


I Know it Will Be Quiet When You Come

by PetrichorPerfume



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Drama, M/M, Romance, Science Fiction, Space Opera, Work In Progress, castiel is a space alien
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-12
Updated: 2018-06-12
Packaged: 2019-05-21 10:01:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14913293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PetrichorPerfume/pseuds/PetrichorPerfume
Summary: Welcome to the historical drama/space opera you've always wanted, in which Castiel, Gabriel, Lucifer, and Michael are princes and soldiers of the Empire of Aljana, a sprawling behemoth of an empire that mines primitive and uninhabited worlds dry for resources to fuel their greedy and ever-expanding populace. They stumble upon Earth in the early 1940's, but a loophole in the system deems the planet a threat. World War Two is raging in Europe and Asia, but soon the world will have much bigger problems. Who will stand for Earth? Can Dean and Castiel fight back against the largest, most brutal empire the galaxy has ever seen, and will they find love only to lose everything in the ultimate battle for freedom and for peace?





	I Know it Will Be Quiet When You Come

**Author's Note:**

> The title is an allusion to one of my favorite poems, by the wonderful writer Joseph Auslander.

_I know it will be quiet when you come:_

_No wind; the water breathing steadily..._

 

It had been a month, local time, since they’d arrived on orders from Father to mine Earth dry. That, of course, had been before they’d found signs of intelligent life, and before Lucifer had ‘accidentally’ pressed a wrong button, causing them all to crash land on the North American continent.

 

“When are you doing to let me live that down?” Lucifer growled at Michael’s muttered comment about how they’d all be home by now if ‘someone’ hadn’t ‘tripped and fallen’ and triggered the panic button.

Michael flung one arm over his brother. “You see, our Heavenly Father wants us to have a moral compass, brother. But too much of a good thing... Well, that is called gluttony.”

 

“It’s also called being clumsy,” Lucifer retorted. He’d been half-listening to Michael while he watched their younger brothers run up ahead into the restaurant.

 

“You didn’t listen to a word I said, did you?”

 

“Never do,” Lucifer shot back, grinning. “Let’s go get something to eat, shall we?”

 

“Eating like a local on a mining operation is not my idea of a good time.”

 

“Tell that to the person who packed just enough rations for one lunar cycle – oh wait,” Lucifer said, face brightening as if in realization. “It was you.”

 

Michael’s face twisted, but in the end, he settled for, “Shut up.”

 

*****

 

When Castiel walked into the bar, his gaze settled on a pair of sea-green eyes that looked electric in the comparative darkness of the establishment. Castiel was used to the floodlights and strobe lighting of the bar scenes Gabriel favored, and often dragged his brother along to, out on the other arm of the galaxy. Elysium was his favorite, well, Gabriel’s favorite, which only meant that Castiel ended up getting taken along more often than to other quadrant-wide superstar bars.

 

This was nothing like Elysium. Soft vocals were playing from a jukebox in the corner, unlike the technobeats popular in the more developed parts of the galaxy. This had an almost organic touch, as if it were the music of a flesh and blood being rather than a machine. He liked it.

 

“Try not to look like a space alien, bro,” Gabriel hissed into Castiel’s ear.

 

“But we are-”

 

Gabriel rolled his eyes, and Castiel let his voice trail off. “Didn’t the others brief you, _cadet_?”

 

That rankled Castiel’s nerves. Gabriel only pulled rank when he was being incredibly condescending. “No one bothered, _Lieutenant_.”

 

The return blow made its mark perfectly. Having been stripped of the rank of Lieutenant-Commander just recently, and with Michael well on his way to achieving ‘General,’ Gabriel hated it when someone reminded him just as much as Cas hated it when the other rubbed his nose in the fact that he was just starting out.

 

“Well, here is the short of it – don’t get in trouble, no using your communicator, no looking at you holowatch, and no flirting with green-eyes over there. Her, on the other hand,” Gabriel said, finishing his whispered spiel with a whistle at a pretty waitress dressed in daffodil yellow.

 

“I fail to see the difference,” Castiel deadpanned.

 

“I’ll explain it to you later,” Gabriel said before sauntering over to Flower Girl, as Castiel so deemed her to be named.

 

Turning back to the green-eyed bartender, Castiel smiled. By the time later rolled around, Castiel planned to have seen what the local entertainment was like up close and personal.

 

*****

 

“Your friend should look out. Richie isn’t here right now, but he’d snap his cap if he saw anyone making eyes at his Daisy.”

 

“Snap his cap?” Castiel repeated.

 

“You must not be from around here,” said the bartender. “I’m Dean.”

 

“Your smile is even more dazzling than your eyes,” Castiel replied. It was the truth. He looked down from Dean’s outstretched hand and frowned. He really wished that someone had bothered to brief him on local customs. This was his first time on the surface since they’d landed. He’d spent the rest of the month in the underground cavern they’d found, geo-mapping the mineral content of the planet’s interior.

 

Dean, seeming to give up on the handshake, busied himself polishing the bar. “Where are you from, anyway? Mars?”

 

“No, actually,” Castiel said. “I’d tell you, but my brother would ‘snap his cap,’ as you might say.”

 

Dean treated him to another of those dazzling smiles, this one briefer, and fainter, too, his lips curling up at the edges just slightly. His eyes, though, betrayed his amusement. “See? You’re getting the hang of it.”

 

Castiel nodded, pleased.

 

“So, can I offer you a drink? We don’t have the biggest variety we’ve ever enjoyed here, but the times are the times.”

 

Perusing the single shelf of liquor behind Dean, Cas struggled to spot any of the brightly colored beverages sold at Elysium and bars of its ilk. “Give me your strongest liquor,” he finally settled on.

 

“Think you can handle it?” Dean asked, fingers dancing over the amber-colored bottles until they settled on a square bottle of bourbon. He poured a shot of it out into a glass, and set the bottle down.

 

Cas cast his eyes down and worried his lip between his teeth. “Watch me,” he said, and with that, he took the bottle and drained it in three long, hearty dregs.

 

“You’re going to need to pay for that,” Dean said, and he didn’t sound amused, but his eyes and his smile told another story.

 

Castiel’s eyes widened. “Pay?” In another place, he would whip out his holowatch and pass it over the bartender’s to transfer funds from his considerable account into another.

 

Gabriel’s arm descended on his shoulders, and a strange green piece of paper with the number ‘100’ fluttered onto the table. “That should cover it. This one cracks me up. He’s one hell of a swigger, isn’t he?”

 

“That was a full bottle of good bourbon,” Dean protested.

 

Another 100 dollar bill joined the second. “I am almost entirely sure that is enough, however full it was.” Gabriel turned to his brother. “No one briefed me either,” he mock-whispered.

 

“It’s not about the money. He shouldn’t be standing right now after that much liquor.”

 

“Ah,” Gabriel said. “Well, he isn’t quite. He’s more seated than anything else, wouldn’t you say?”

 

Dean rolled his eyes and turned to Castiel. “ _This_ is your brother?”

 

“The one and only,” Gabriel answered.

 

“Also, I never got your name,” Dean continued, ignoring Gabriel completely.

 

“We were just going,” Gabriel announced, and whisked Castiel off before he had a chance to say a word.

 

*****

 

Dean stood up straighter before the General.

 

“So, son, did you see anything noteworthy about our suspects? Anything at all?”

 

Dean tried to hide the flicker of unease that he could feel plain as day, stark as night, from showing on his face. He thought back to the stiff way they’d walked into the bar, the snubbed handshake, the blue-eyed man’s brother trying and failing to whisper about being briefed. The way the blue-eyed stranger had drowned an entire bottle and walked away without the slightest hint of a sway in his step. “No, sir. There is nothing of import to be reported.”

 

“Very well, then. Keep me updated, will you?” With that, the General turned back to his paperwork as if it were of the upmost importance and Dean a minor interruption to his day.

 

“Of course,” Dean lied.


End file.
